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24-Hour Time Basics for Day Trading Charts

If you’re going to be trading, you’ll probably encounter the 24-hour time format. Many folks in the U.S. are not familiar with reading 24-hour time. Instead, we frequently use regular time, which may seem even crazier. Regular time splits the day into two 12-hour sections. In each section, we count from 12:00 to 1:00, then from 1:00 to 12:00. To someone from outer space, regular time may seem more difficult than the 24-hour format. After all, in the 24-hour format, all you are doing is counting from 00:00 (midnight) to 24:00 (midnight again) for each hour of the day.

NinjaTrader uses 24-hour time for its charts. Currently, there is no way to get around that. Until you reach a point where 24-hour time is second-nature, you’ll have to learn how to do some mental math or memorization.

24-Hour Time Tips

There is no need to do any conversion, as 24-hour and regular times will be the same for times between 1 a.m. and noon, e.g. 1:00 on a 24-hour clock is 1:00 a.m. on a regular clock.

After 1 p.m. regular time, to get the regular time from a 24-hour time, subtract 12. For example, 19:30 – 12 = 7:30 p.m. regular time.

Confused if 00:00 and 24:00 are the same? You should be. Many 24-hour clocks consider this the same time (midnight).

Time zone conversion will still work the same way. Add or subtract the time difference as you normally would.

Want to learn how to read a 24-hour clock faster? Get a wristwatch that has both formats or change your smartphone’s time display. If you have more questions, check out this helpful website and the pictures below.